What is Nigel Farage's Net Worth?
Nigel Farage is a British broadcaster and former politician who has a net worth of $4 million. Nigel Farage served as the leader of the UK Independence Party from 2006 to 2009 and again from 2010 to 2016, and leader of the Brexit Party from 2019 to 2021. He was also a Member of the European Parliament for South East England from 1999 until the UK's exit from the EU in 2020. As a broadcaster, he hosted "The Nigel Farage Show" on the talk radio station LBC from 2017 to 2020.
Fox News Salary
In 2018, Nigel released financial disclosures that showed he had earned around $1 million from media appearances, primarily on Fox News between 2014 and 2018.
Early Life and Education
Nigel Farage was born on April 3, 1964 in Farnborough, England to Barbara and stockbroker Guy. An alcoholic, his father left the family home in the late 1960s. Farage was educated at the Greenhayes School for Boys in West Wickham as well as a school in nearby Eden Park. From 1975 to 1982, he attended Dulwich College in south London.
Career Beginnings
Farage had his first major job trading commodities at the London Metal Exchange in the 1980s. He started out with the American commodity operation of Drexel Burnham Lambert before transferring to Crédit Lyonnais Rouse. Later on, Farage would join Refco and Natixis Metals. Meanwhile, in politics, he joined the Conservative Party. After being in that party for 14 years, he left in 1992 in protest of Prime Minister John Major's signing of the Treaty on European Union.
European Parliament
In 1999, Farage was elected to the European Parliament as a member from South East England; he was reelected in 2004, 2009, and 2014. During his tenure, he campaigned for the UK's withdrawal from the EU and served as president of the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy, a Eurosceptic political group.
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UK Independence Party
In 2006, Farage was elected as leader of the rightwing populist UK Independence Party, which he had co-founded in 1993 after leaving the Conservative Party. He went on to lead UKIP through the 2009 European elections, when it won the second-highest share of the UK popular vote. After that, he stepped down to focus on contesting newly elected Speaker John Bercow's constituency of Buckingham. Farage ultimately lost the contest, coming in third. He subsequently stood again for UKIP leadership in 2010 following the resignation of Lord Pearson, and won. In 2013, Farage led UKIP to its best-ever performance in a UK election, winning 147 council seats.
In the 2014 European elections, UKIP won 24 seats, which was more than either the Labour or Conservative Parties won. Moving on to the 2015 general election, UKIP garnered over 3.8 million votes, but only managed to secure a single seat. When he failed to win the South Thanet seat, Farage announced his resignation; however, his resignation was rejected. He went on to become a leading figure in the successful Brexit campaign in the 2016 EU membership referendum. Following the vote to leave the EU, Farage resigned as leader of UKIP but remained as an MEP. He stood down from UKIP in late 2018.
Brexit Party
After leaving UKIP, Farage joined the rightwing populist Brexit Party, which he helped launch. In March of 2019, he was made the new leader in the wake of former leader Catherine Blaiklock's resignation. A few months later, in the European Parliament election, Farage led the Brexit Party to a 29-seat victory, the highest share of the vote. The UK consequently withdrew from the EU in early 2020. Later that year, amid the raging COVID-19 pandemic, Farage rebranded the Brexit Party as Reform UK and focused on anti-lockdown campaigning. He resigned as leader in March of 2021.
International Political Involvement
Beyond the UK, Farage has supported various rightwing populist leaders in other countries. Notably, he has supported Donald Trump in the US, speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2015 and meeting with Trump after the presidential election in 2016. Farage was later listed as a person of interest in the FBI's investigation of possible Russian interference in the election. In 2021, he toured the US to address Republican grassroots audiences.
Elsewhere in the world, Farage has supported such far-right politicians as Austria's Norbert Hofer, France's Marine Le Pen, and Germany's Beatrix von Storch. He has also commented that Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 was a consequence of the expansion of the EU and NATO.
Broadcasting Career
As a broadcaster, Farage hosted his own talk radio show, "The Nigel Farage Show," on LBC from 2017 to 2020. Meanwhile, in 2018, he hosted a podcast for LBC called "Farage Against the Machine." The podcast was canceled after Farage was sent a cease and desist letter from the rock band Rage Against the Machine, which demanded that he change the name of the podcast. In 2021, Farage joined the British news channel GB News to host its Sunday morning political discussion show "The Political Correction." He later began hosting its weekday evening program. Among his other broadcasting contributions, Farage has provided commentary for the US channels Fox News and the Fox Business Network.
Personal Life
Farage married his first wife, Irish nurse Gráinne Hayes, in 1988. They had two sons named Samuel and Thomas before divorcing in 1997. Farage subsequently married German national Kirsten Mehr in 1999; they have two children together. In early 2017, Farage reported that he had separated from Mehr.
Farage has been in some major accidents. In late 1985, he was hit by a car and was put in a cast for 11 months. Later, in 2010, he was in a plane crash that resulted in his sternum and ribs being broken and his lung punctured. The pilot of the aircraft ended up being charged with threatening to kill Farage in a completely separate incident.
